Marching Orders - a McRoll in the REAL World story
by Mari217
Summary: Angie delights some new friends with her antics and in the retelling, warms her parents' hearts.


_Sammy & Ilna thank you as always for being the best of everything, especially friends._

_REALMcRollers and Readers thank you all! Xoxo_

* * *

**Marching Orders**

Angie slid off Joseph's lap and ran to the door of the condo the minute her parents walked in. "Mommy, 'wim Apa!" She said as Steve and Catherine each greeted her with hugs and kisses.

"You went swimming in the pool with Grandpa?" Catherine ran a hand over her little girl's still damp hair before stepping over to kiss her father's cheek. He was grinning as he always did at anything pertaining to Angie. "Thanks, Dad. Did you have as much fun as she did?"

"Absolutely, and we went to Big City Diner for dinner first. She ate macaroni and cheese, two apple slices and some peas and carrots."

"Ooh, sounds yummy," Catherine said.

Angie nodded from her place in Steve's arms, holding her arms out wide she said, "Big cookie."

"_And_ a cookie," Joseph added, smacking his forehead in an exaggerated gesture that made her giggle. "How could Grandpa forget about that great big cookie?" He looked at his daughter's amused expression. "She got one of those huge black and white ones, I gave her a quarter."

"Charmed Grandpa into the biggest cookie, hmm?" Catherine addressed Angie, but winked at her dad. Her chuckle was the adult version of her daughter's giggle. "That's about ten regular cookies, right?"

Steve barked a laugh when his father in law grinned and said, "We shared half. The rest is in the kitchen for tomorrow. And your beautiful, brilliant daughter charmed that cookie out of the diner's manager."

Steve's expression said it all as he kissed the little cheek and placed her on her feet. "Of course she did."

Joseph gestured to the sofa and took a seat in the overstuffed chair, running a hand over Smokey's fur when the dog hopped up and joined him. "I wish you'd seen her…" He glanced at Catherine, clearly remembering something before he continued. "She'd just finished having a very detailed conversation with our server about how her Ama and Ama Ang went to a senior center fundraiser." He smirked at Catherine's raised brow. Angie had actually announced 'Ama an' Ama Ang go bye bye car.' "Then a few E-1s came in wearing digis and she started waving and insisted on going over to say hello."

"And?" Catherine asked as Angie, who'd been playing with her _See 'n Say _on the floor, handed it to Steve and hoisted herself up between them and then onto his lap.

"And she did something that reminded me of you. She looked at the digi blues, backed up and started to march. Remember I told you you were marching by two? Well…" He waved a hand, "Considering you were living on base, Angie did a very good job."

* * *

**Earlier evening, Big City Diner**

_"Hi!" Angie ran up to the seamen who'd stopped by to grab some non-mess food at the start of liberty._

_The young woman closest to her knelt and greeted the toddler. "Hi, cutie! How are you?"_

_Angie looked up with a head tilt, taking in the rest of battle-dress uniformed group. Seconds later, she pointed to her feet and two of the five young men and women looked at Joseph with puzzled expressions._

_"Yes, their boots are like yours."_

_"Daddy boo's, see?" she asked them, and they broke into grins._

_"Cool. You have combat boots," one of the boys, who's nameplate read Robinson, said. "She's really smart, sir, she reminds me of my little sister." His eyes flashed momentarily with an expression Joseph had seen ten thousand times. That of a young sailor missing home and family._

_"Thank you. This is Angie." Joseph smiled and well prepared for the instant turnaround in expressions, added, "Captain Joseph Rollins, retired."_

_The group snapped to with identical movements as if they were puppets on a string. "Sir!" the voices chorused, and Joseph grinned when Angie repeated, "Sir!" just because._

_"At ease, at ease." He saw them relax by a tiny percentage. "Today I'm a grandpa having dinner in a diner."_

_As he spoke, Angie, who'd been contemplating the uniforms that she'd seen in the weeks before when visiting Steve on base straightened and began to ... march. Lifting one little foot a little shakily, then the other, she marched to the counter and back several times, and in doing so, captured the heart of every patron in the diner._

_When she realized several people were applauding, she threw up her hands and just like at gymnastics, said, "Ta da!" charming her new admirers young and old to the core._

_After guiding Angie back to their booth, Joseph later took a photo of his granddaughter devouring half of the huge black and white cookie - a gift from the diner's manager, who explained when he secretly covered the tab for the young sailors, that her own daughter was an ensign at Pearl._

* * *

**Present**

"You were marching, baby girl?" Catherine asked delightedly. "That's gotta be from all the base visits when you were on reserves," she said to Steve before turning to Joseph. "We'd gotten there early a couple of times and Steve was marching new intakes, so every time Angie saw a unit doing cadence she'd look for him."

"The diner's manager has a daughter at Pearl, so she was charmed into the cookie. Those seamen thought Angie was adorable, too." He looked at his granddaughter. "Honey, can you show Mommy and Daddy how you march?" He stood and held out a hand.

The toddler slid off the sofa and grinned. "Ma-ch!" She tugged at Steve's hand until he, too, stood. "Daddy ma-ch."

"Daddy wants to see _Angie_ march, can you show him?" Joseph coaxed.

Angie's curls were a halo around her head as they dried from her pool time, and she reached up with both hands to push them off her forehead.

Catherine's hand moved to her lips when her tiny daughter straightened up and lifted each leg in turn, marching across the living room. Her movements were accompanied by her very own rendition of a count off and Steve's face split into an astonished smile.

Marching to the door and back, Angie called in a loud voice, "two, free, two, two!" Reaching Joseph's legs, she looked back at Steve expectantly. "See, Daddy?"

Catherine shared a soft smile with her father as Steve wordlessly knelt and gathered Angie into a hug.

When he didn't immediately respond, she tilted back and placed a hand on each side of his face. "Daddy, _see_?" she asked again, making sure he saw. "Ma-ch." She wriggled from the hug and looked at Catherine before she began to march one more time.

Standing to wrap an arm around Steve and kiss his cheek, Catherine began a cadence oft repeated by female personnel. As she did, the inimitable Angeline Elizabeth McGarrett marched around the room once more as her grandfather's voice joined in.

"_Ask my daddy he'll tell ya true…_

_His little girl wears cammies, too…"_

# END _Thanks for reading!_

* * *

_Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: __**marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll**_

_Or in the McRoll in the REAL World community here on fanfiction dot net __**Find us on Tumblr: mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com**_

_You can join our mailing list by __**emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com**_ _with: Add me, please! in the subject line. Or just drop us a line to say hi! We love hearing from our readers._

_And find me on Twitter asking your opinions on all things McRoll in the REAL World! at Mari21763 and add #REALMcRoller _


End file.
